Christchurch

A short trip over the Tasman to Christchurch for the monthly Airport Managers meeting. We thought we'd go and check our our cousin's (Pacific Blue) home base, although I'm not sure who decided it was a good idea to go to NZ in July!! As we had a daytime flight, we also had fabulous views of the snow cappped mountain ranges out of the plane.

We touched down (with a minor technical incident... the ATC tower was evacuated so we had to park on the runway for a while) to a very chilly 2 degrees... and it was only 4pm! After a tour of the Pacific Blue offices we headed to our accomodation at Peppers Clearwater. It is a beautiful resort style complex right on the NZ PGA golf course. We had a lovely dinner together in the restaurant. The following day it was all day Airport Managers Meeting and then Chinese at a restaurant in town. We were much entertained, especially by the story of Lorie and the acquarium! A short, cold, but great trip to Christchurch.

Raining in Brisbane

Hi everyone... I'm sure a few of you wondered where I've been??? Well after a fantastic trip around the east coast of Amercia, there just wasn't anything as exciting happening on my return to Aus. The good new is, though, it has been raining here in Brisbane. It's rained at least one day every week since I've been back.... however, still not enough in the dams so I'm sure level 6 restrictions will be in place soon.

And the other exciting news is the QLD have won the State of Origin series! It was a very exciting second game in Sydney, and QLD worked hard to deserve the win. The final game is being played in Brisbane next week - and even though we've already won it should still be a cracker as it's been quite a while since either teams won the series 3 - 0.

Mum and Dad are in France at the moment, and will be heading to KL soon, and then finally home! It must seem like you have been away from ages, because it already feels like a long time ago I came back from America. Reading Lisa's blog, it seems like they had a great time in the UK.... but I know Mum can't wait to stop living out of a suitcase! Look forward to seeing you both next week!

Empire State Building

In an attempt to beat the crowds, we headed straight to the Empire State Building this morning for a trip to the 86th floor observation deck. Even so, it was still around a 60 minute wait to get to the top! The Empire State Building is a 102 story skyscraper and stood as the world's tallest building for more than 40 years, from it's completion in 1931 until the construction of the World Trade Centre North Tower in 1972; and is now once again the tallest building in New York after the September 11 World Trade Centre collapse. The building has 85 stories of commercial and office space and an indoor and outdoor observation deck on the 86th floor. The remaining 16 stories represent the spire, which is capped by a 102nd floor observatory. The Empire State Building was the first building to have more than 100 floors. When we finally reached the observation deck, we were rewarded with a very clear and sunny day.

The views of the city are 360 degree and really put into perspective just how big this city is.

We stopped off for a cold drink at Starbucks and then Dad headed to 12th Avenue to take in a cruise of the Hudson River. Mum and I spent the afternoon exploring Macy's. We met Dad back at the hotel, and then took the subway down to Little Italy for Mum & Dad to experience Lombardi's Pizza. For the second time in just over a week Lombardi's delivered fast, fresh, traditional Italian pizza. A great end to our day out.

Tomorrow morning is my last morning in New York before heading to JFK for the long flight home. I heard from a fairly reliable source this week that the Saks summer sale starts tomorrow, so maybe a few last minute purchases to fit in!

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, which is a federal holiday that commemorates US men and women who have died in military service to their country. So what better way to start off a public holiday in true New Yorker style, but with a walk through Central Park.

Central Park is a large public, urban park at the upper end of Manhattan, and is just under 3.5 km squared. It is one of the most famous city parks in the world, and the most visited city park in the United States with about 25 millions visitors annually. While much of the park lookds natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped and contains several artificial lakes, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, a wildlife sanctuary, many grassy lawns and playgrounds. The 10 km road circling the park is popular with joggers, bicyclists and today was no exception being a federal holiday! We entered at the middle of the park on 59th St and walked passed the baseball fields, Sheep Meadow, Strawberry Fields, The Great Lawn and The Lake.

We walked Dad to the American Museum of Natural History on 82nd Street, and left him to explore museums for the afternoon. Mum and I then caught the subway to Soho and I took her for a walk down West Broadway & Spring Street. We then stopped off for a light lunch at Dos Caminos, a trendy Tex-Mex restaurant on the fringe of Soho. They are famous for their freshly made guacamole and the 105 different Tequila's they have on the beverage menu! We opted for a bowl of the guacamole and chips... as you can see it was enough for both of us!

We continued our walk through Greenwich down Bleecker Street. I took Mum to Magnolia Bakery to sample a cupcake... but the line was so long we decided to opt out. It was out the door and halfway down the street! They are good cupcakes... but not that good! Unfortunatley for me, Magnolia is located right opposite Marc Jacobs, so a last time visit was compulsory! It resulted in another pair of shoes... who can resisit when they are 40% off!! From here we walked up West 4th Street and caught the subway to Union Square before heading home to meet Dad.

Earlier in the week, a local had recommended a great BBQ restaurant near Times Square, and given Dad has been waiting to have spare ribs we decided to give it a go. Just around the corner on West 44th Street we found Virgil's BBQ. We had BBQ chicken wings and pork spare ribs true Southern BBQ style - smoked and marinated for hours, and it was awesome food. Dad couldn't even eat it all!! I think this has been his highlight of New York so far!

Mum & Dad Arrive in New York

Mum and Dad flew in on Sunday afternoon from Vermont to spend a few days in New York. Jacqui is due to fly back to Russia early Monday morning, so Mum, Dad and I are going to have a few more days in New York together before I go home and they go on to London. I checked out of our hotel in midtown and towed by luggage 12 blocks to the middle of Times Square to meet Mum & Dad at our hotel. And when I say the middle of Times Square, I'm not kidding!! We have a suite on the 22nd floor looking directly up and down Times Square in both directions. Here's the view from our room!

So, after checking in we all headed out for a late lunch. It was then time to say goodbye to Jacqui - who needed to go back to her hotel and consolidate purchases and luggage to minimise excess baggage for the flight back to Moscow. It's hard to believe that it was 2 years ago that we were here last, it was another great (and bank breaking) holiday together. Look forward to seeing you in Russia next year Jacqui!

So this is Dad's first visit to New York City, and Mum's second. We spent Sunday afternoon at Dad's new favourite store - T J Maxx; which is conveniently located above Filene's Basement. After some time poking around, we then caught the subway down to the World Trade Center and walked around most of the site. We found a small fire station on Liberty Street that has been rebuilt and reopened since September 11; but it's amazing to see all the memorials and debris they have on display as a reminder. We then walked down to Battery Park an watched the sunset over Jersey City on the other side of the Hudson River. By that time it was quite late, so we stopped off at the Stage Door Deli for dinner on the way home.
Dad was then able to see Times Square in all it's glory with some great night time shots.

Brooklyn Bridge

Finally the heat has subsided a little, and Sunday morning seemed like a perfect time for a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge. We caught the subway to High Street in Brooklyn Heights and walked the bridge back towards the city with fantastic views of the Manhattan skyline. The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the US connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn over the East River. Construction began in 1870 and the bridge was completed 13 years later - at that time was the largest and the first steel-wire suspension bridge in the world. After a leisurely stroll over the bridge and plenty of photos, we took the subway back to our hotel at 34th St.

Saturday in Soho

This morning we headed downtown on the eastside to check out the Union Square farmers markets. Located at East 14th Street, 3 times a week people from New York state come into Manhattan and set up stalls to sell their produce. We walked around and checked out the array of fruit, vegetables, seafood, meat, flowers and other products available. There were also quite a few vendors selling their own artwork.


After the morning markets, we headed down to the trendy Soho neighbourhood. This part of Manhattan rose to fame as a neighbourhood for artists during the 60's and 70's and is known as Soho as it is SOuth of HOuston street. During this period, which lasted until the 80's, living in Soho was often of dubious legality as the area was zone for light industrial and commercial use rather than residential, and many residents had started converting their art studios and galleries into livable apartment space. As the neighbourhood rapidly rose of the socioeconomic scale in the early 80's many of the artists moved out leaving galleries, boutiques, restaurants and young urban professionals. We spent the afternoon battling the crowded streets before our evening reservation at a unique Mexican restaurant called Dos Caminos. On the way home we detoured through Times Square at night.

Hot in the City

Jacqui and I had intended to walk the Brooklyn Bridge this morning, but with today being a sweltering 32 degrees out and very humid, we amended our plans and decided to attack 5th Avenue instead. We ventured to Greenwich first off for a late brunch at Le Pain - our favourite organic French cafe. After the first proper latte I've had all trip, we took the subway up to Times Square and walked across to 5th Avenue. We walked towards the park stopping off at a few stores here and there until we got to the Saks 5th Ave department store. We were only going in for a browse, however, once inside found that Saks were having a pre-memorial day weekend sale! A pre-sale to the real sale.... only in America. So, before we knew it a few more hours had passed and loaded up with packages we had to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.



Dinner tonight was at a restaurant in Nolita called Public. Friends of Jacqui's had dined there recently and recommended it. It's an Australian influenced restaurant and appropriately our waiter was also Australian! And just to prove that there's no place like home, this restaurant was actually the best food we've had all week. Jacqui and I shared a green bean, lentil and avocado salad to start with, and I could have just eaten a few more plates of this and been satisfied it was so good. For mains Jacqui had lamb and I had duck - both simple meals bursting with flavour and a nice bottle of Australian Shiraz that complimented the food well. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting New York - and I'll be back again!



Public: 210 Elizabeth Street, Nolita, NY; (212) 343-7011; http://www.public-nyc.com/

A Walk in the Park

Our first stop today was right downtown in the Financial district. We stopped by the World Trade Center site to see the progress from last time we were here. They are well on the way to laying the foundations of the Freedom Tower - which will sit across the original base of the twin towers. There is also now a very moving photographic memorial around the fence - it's overwhelming to anyone who visits here even 6 years on. We also took a walk through St Paul's Church grounds - the only building in the WTC vicinity which escaped damage in 2001.




In the same area, is also the well known discount department store Century 21. Here you can get big brand names at hugely discounted prices... or so was the case last time I was here. Seems that it is now a well known secret... and wait you won't believe this - I didn't buy anything!


Given it was such a lovely day, we decided to spend the afternoon at the other end of the city, with a walk through central park. It is such a lovely park - almost hard to believe you're right in the heart of a city with 8 million people! We entered the park at Columbus Circle, walked down past the local baseball fields - quite a few games underway and ended up at the Boathouse restaurant right on the lake. Time for a pitstop and what better than a cold glass of white and cheese platter on a sunny Thursday afternoon in Central Park!



After an enjoyable conversation with a few locals, we walked back through Sheep Meadow to 59th Street - and got an amazing view of the New York skyline from the park.

Sex & The City

What trip to New York is complete without experiencing the city through the eyes of Carrie Bradshaw?!?! (The girls will know what I'm talking about!) Today Jacqui and I did the Sex and the City tour of New York.... and what place to start off than at the Plaza Hotel - scene of the Natasha/Mr Big moment for Carrie "Your girl is beautiful Hubble..." (yes... sad I know the script!). Anyway, we hopped on a bus full of other Sex and the City fanatics and began a 3 hour trip around town. We drove by 'The Paris' cinema where Carrie goes to see a movie by herself, the infamous Tiffany's where Charlotte proposes to Trey, the church where Samantha tried to win over the Friar, Charlotte's gallery, Aiden's furniture store, Balthazar, Pastis, Blue Water Grill, Sushi Samba and many other restaurants and clubs where the show was filmed. It's incredible that 98% of the show as filmed right in New York City - it really was the fifth star!

There were also a few stops along the way, the first being a store called The Pleasure Chest where Charlotte bought "The Rabbit" - a quick browse (and maybe some purchases but I can't reveal that here!) and back on the bus for stop number 2... Magnolia Bakery! For those who are not aware, Magnolia makes the best cupcakes in the city - as showcased by Carrie and Miranda in an episode of SATC. There is now a limit of 4 cupcakes per person due to their popularity... and on weekends the line up is around the block! But, from experience I can tell you they are good cupcakes, and worth waiting for!


Right around the corner from Magnolia (on Bleecker for anyone wanting to make notes) is the apartment front used for Carrie's apartment. We were able to have snap on the stoop and pretend Big was waiting in the black Lincoln out front (left).


Final stop for the day is a bar called O'Neals... but better known on the show as Scout - the bar Aiden and Steve opened together (right). And what else to drink at a place like this?? Cosmopolitans of course!




Our tour finished on 5th Avenue, and it was such a lovely sunny day that we made a pit stop at Bryant Park for an afternoon drink before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Jacqui and I had eaten at Nobu on our last trip, and me more recently at Nobu London with Lisa, but it was just such good food that we made a return visit. Nobu New York is the flagship restaurant of Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and co-owned by Robert De Niro. And again, no disappointment here... A great modern Japanese meal - well worth the price!

The Big Apple

We arrived in New York on Sunday evening... and given a big night out on the town in Boston on Saturday night we had a nice early night after getting settled in our hotel. The hotel is fantastic right off 7th Avenue (Fashion Ave - how appropriate) on 34th Street. Yesterday we spent the day exploring the Chelsea, Greenwich & Soho areas.... there is just so much to see! We started off at Barney's Co-op which is a part of the Barney's department store chain, but this location only carries current trends and fashionable labels. We then walked down Bleecker Street... and couldn't resist a stop in at the Marc Jacobs superstore... I swear by the end of this trip I'll be funding his latest stint in rehab!

We spent the afternoon exploring Prince, Mercer, Spring and Greene Streets in Soho - so many shops & galleries to see! I don't think you could see them all even if you lived here! We then returned to a favourite from last time for dinner - Lombardi's Pizza Parlour. Voted best pizza in New York and it didn't disappoint.

Historic Boston

After some heavy duty shopping it was time to give the credit card a rest and see the sights of Boston. Saturday turned out to be a little better than the first 2 days, more of a drizzle and into double digits!! As it was still raining, we decided to book on of those hop on hop off tours of the city.

Our first stop was at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market Place, one of the stops on the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a red (mostly brick) path through downtown Boston which leads to sixteen significant historic sites. It is a 2.5 mile (4 km) walk from the Boston Common to the Bunker Hill Monument. Faneuil Hall has been a marketplace and meeting hall since the 1700's. It was the site of several well known speeches encouraging independence from Great Britain. Quincy Market is a historic building located right behind Faneuil Hall, originally constructed in honour of the Mayor in the early 1800's. It now serves as a well known market and food hall... a great place for some brunch.

Next we walked up to Boston Common, which is the oldest city park in the United States. The Common's purpose has changed over the years, originally as a camp by the British before the Revolutionary War. Following this it was used for cattle grazing, public hangings and was the site of a city riot, but today it serves as a public park. Back onto the sight seeing bus, and our tour ventured to the edge of town to visit Fenway Park - the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club. This park is the oldest of all Major League Baseball stadiums still in use, and the current 2007 season marks it's 95th birthday.

Our final stop on the tour was The Massachusetts State House, the state capitol of Massachusetts. This building houses the Massachusetts General Court (for state legislature) and the offices of the Governor of Massachusetts. The staircase and gates in front of the building that lead to Beacon Street are only opened on two occasions:-

1) When the President of the United States or a foreign head of state visits and;
2) When the Governor exits the building on his last day in office. This tradition is known as the Long Walk.

Being in the Beacon Hill district, what better way to finish off our day but with some drinks with local Bostonians at the Beacon Hill Pub.

Boston And The Credit Card Debt!

Jacqui and I arrived in Boston early last Thursday morning to a freak cold snap - wet, windy and freezing! We had booked a flight with Continental from Burlington to Boston but when we got to boarding, we realised it was a Regional Express type airline operating on behalf of Continental... and our First Officer was also the Flight Attendant! Anyway, it was a short 46 minute ride straight to Boston. We arrived at our hotel - The Onyx, which turned out to be a great little Boutique Hotel right next to Little Italy.

As our flight was an early morning arrival, after checking in at the hotel we ventured to the South End of the city to have breakfast at a local diner we had read about called Mike's City Diner. It was a great and extremely cheap (read $5 for 3 slices of French toast with bacon and coffee). Back out into the cold again, we started our shopping expedition at Copley Place not too far from the South End. Copley Place was a very upmarket shopping centre where Jacqui and I kicked off our spending spree with my first ever purchase from Tiffany's, followed by my long desired sunglasses from Prada. Jacqui also made her first ever Manolo Blahnik purchase... I'm not quite ready for that yet!

After a hearty start to our shopping spree at Copley, we then trekked in the cold and rain over to Newbury Street. Newbury Street is an eclectic mix of shops in renovated brownstone buildings, with stores at all levels physically (basement, street level and above), stylistically (elegant to shabby), and financially (upscale to cheap). Though often described as "fashionable," and "chic" part of the charm of Newbury Street is its inclusion of everything from high-end clothiers like Chanel and Armani to The Gap. We made many stops along this street and also discovered Filene's Basement... a department store that sells off excess and end of season designer goods. We definitely found a few bargains there. Then we stopped off at a great restaurant called Stephanie's for lunch - which turned out to be some of the best food I've had all trip. The most exciting part of the day was when we arrived at Marc by Marc Jacobs to find that they were having a 40% off shoe sale! Just my kind of sale!

After all that shopping our tired feet deserved a well earned rest so our day finished up with drinks at The Taj (formerly The Ritz) on Arlington Street. A great day... maybe not for the credit card though!

Montreal, Canada

Today we woke up to another cold and very wet day... but for Jacqui and I it is our last day in Vermont. As Jacqui was still waiting for British Airways to deliver one of her pieces of baggage, we had a late start to the day but still decided to head for a drive north over the Canadian border. The state of Vermont borders Canada, and the city of Montreal is only just over 90 minutes north of Burlington. Montreal is the second largest city in Canada, and the largest city in the Provence of Quebec. Montreal is also the second largest French speaking city in the world after Paris. Today, it was only 12 degrees in Burlington and as we drove north on the interstate we saw the numbers getting lower and lower... when we finally arrived in Montreal it was a very chilly 4 degrees! It was also wet and very windy. We made it to Montreal in time to have a late lunch - we found a nice French Bistro not too far from the car park. Lunch was surprisingly very unique - nice flavours and very reasonably priced.

After lunch we had a quick stroll around Montreal - Jacqui and I opted to do this indoors as it was so cold. Montreal obviously gets so cold in the winter, that they have quite a maze of underground shopping complexes all linked together. After a quick drive around the centre of the city, it was back over the border to Burlington. Jacqui and I have a very early flight to Boston in the morning.

As we're leaving Mum & Dad (and the laptop) behind, I'm not sure whether I will have access to blog between now and the end of my trip so if you don't hear from me... I'm probably busy maxing out the credit card!

Burlington, Vermont

We have left the land of sunshine and warmth... for the state of cold weather and rain! We arrived in Burlington, Vermont on Monday evening. I met up with Jacqui at JFK and after a long trip from Russia, we hit the hay after getting to the apartment in Burlington. Burlington is a small town in Northern Vermont on the edge of Lake Champlain. It is the largest city in the state with around 40,000 people living here (yes, very small for America), and the town is best known for maple syrup... and Ben and Jerry's ice cream. So what better way to start off our time in Vermont, but a trip to the Ben and Jerry's factory. We drove out to Waterbury about 40 minutes away, and had a tour of the first production factory for the famous ice-cream. The tour also included a taste test of one of their new flavours for 2007... Creme Brule.

After the tour, we went and check our the 'Flavour Graveyard'. Over the years, there have been some pretty interesting flavours, and due to the limited production lines they have retired over 400 flavours! We also made sure we bought a few more of the new flavours from the shop to take home... dessert will be Peanut Butter Cup and Magic Brownies tonight!

This afternoon Jacqui and I took a walk around the town... which didn't really take long! There is a central paved mall with a few shops, cafes and bars - but nothing too exciting. We had dinner at a nice Italian Cafe before heading home.

Last Day in St. Pete's

Time has just flown by... and today was our last day in St. Petersburg. This morning we drove over to Tampa and visited the Home Depot, Target and this great organic supermarket called Wild Oats. It was interesting checking out the local stores - the variety here is just incredible, and at such cheap prices. We also stopped at a car wash and had the Lincoln handwashed and detailed for just $10... someone needs to take this business idea to Australia. For $10 I would get my car done weekly!

After a bit of a tidying up and packing up our things, Dad and I went to the park to feed the squirrels. Unfortunately, they are not as friendly as the London squirrels... obviously at the park we went to they are used to fending for themselves because they were too scared to come near me even after some coaxing with peanuts!

When we got home, Mike and Jeanette came round for a drink and then we headed out for dinner. Firstly, though, we stopped by St. Pete's beach as Mike said there were more tourist friendly squirrels down there... and he was right! These ones are down with the free nuts and will eat out of your hand.

The beach in St. Petersburg is out onto the bay so it was unbelievably calm. Lots of white sand, palm trees and people out for an evening jog (it was about 7.30pm).

Then we headed down to the pier to have dinner at a local seafood restaurant. Tomorrow we head to Vermont.

Lazy Saturday

Today, we had a fairly lazy day back in St. Petersburg. Dad went out sailing with Mike and Jeanette and took the Lincoln with them, so Mum and I had the SL560 convertible to cruise around town in! Unfortunately, it is still really hazy from the bush fires, not a great day for the top down - but we still had fun running some errands.

We found a great shop here called Stein Mart - it's like Myer, except it all the excess stock from department stores that is being sold off at discounted prices. I bought myself a great new Diane Von Furstenburg carry on. I had planned on buying another piece of luggage in New York at the end of the trip to bring all my stuff home, but given it was $300 reduced to $65 I couldn't pass it by!

Classic American Moment #5: There is an Aveda salon just a few block from our apartment, and when we were out yesterday we saw they had a tent set up outside their shop. We thought they might be doing some sort of promotion, until we drove past and realised that they had set up drive-thru gift certificates on the curb as it is Mothers Day here tomorrow! I couldn't believe how lazy that is! So, you don't even have to get out of your car to pick up a gift certificate from Aveda for Mothers Day!

We spent the night organising for Mum and Dad to come down to New York in a few weeks. Here is a photo of St. Petersburg at night:

Kennedy Space Center

After breakfast at the American chain Denny's, we were on the road again to check out the Kennedy Space Center. Located just over an hour east of Orlando, and right on the coastline of the Atlantic is the NASA Kennedy Space Center. The site is near Cape Canaveral, midway between Miami and Jacksonville. It is 34 miles long and around 6 miles wide, covering 219 square miles. Around 17,000 people work at the site. Because much of Kennedy Space Center is off limits to development, the site also serves as an important wildlife sanctuary with only 9% of the land developed. We saw lots of sea turtles, an armadillo and an alligator, all while driving around the complex.

Kennedy Space Center is now the launch site for the Space Shuttle, reusing the Complex 39 Apollo infrastructure. The first launch was that of Columbia in 1981. Kennedy Space Center also has a landing site for the orbiter, the 4.6km Shuttle Landing Facility. However, the first end-of-mission Shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center did not take place until 1984 when Challenger completed it's mission.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is home to a number of museums, two IMAX theatres, and various bus tours allowing visitors a closer look at various restricted areas that would otherwise not be possible. We took one of these tours and the first stop was an observation gantry on the grounds of Launch complex 39. From here, the observation deck provides unobstructed view of both launch pads - 39A and 39B. It was a pretty hazy day, so the visibility wasn't great.

The Apollo-Saturn V Center is a large museum built around its centerpiece exhibit, a restored Saturn V launch vehicle, and features other space related exhibits, including an Apollo capsule. Two theaters allows you to relive parts of the Apollo program. One simulates the environment inside an Apollo-era firing room during an Apollo launch, and another simulates the Apollo 11 landing - it was pretty amazing. The tour also included a visit to a building where modules for the International Space Station are tested.

After a few hours exploring the Space Center, we made the long journey home due to Friday afternoon peak hour. Not many people use their indicator when driving here, and this obviously causes chaos... especially evidenced by the many accidents we saw driving back.

Orlando

On Thursday we took a road trip up to Orlando, just under 2 hours drive from St Petersburg. The interstate makes it so easy to get around, but no one does the speed limit. Most of the way we could do 70 mph, but even at that speed everyone was flying past! We arrived in Orlando just after lunch and spent the afternoon at the Orlando Premium Outlets. It was pretty big, not as big as New York though. If anyone can believe this, I actually didn't make many purchases.... saving myself for meeting up with Jacqui on Monday.

After shopping we checked into the hotel, had dinner at a local restaurant and then took a drive around Orlando - which is also the home of Walt Disney World. I never realised how huge Disney World is - there are actually 8 theme parks that make up the whole attraction - you would seriously need at least a couple of days to see it all. We drove around Downtown Disney and then headed back to the hotel where I happened to find a brand new episode of Grey's Anatomy on TV!

Desoto Beach

After a few unusually milder days, it was back to hot and humid today... a perfect day to go to the beach. Mum went out with Jeanette to her quilting group, so Dad and I went for a drive to Desoto beach... voted the best beach in America. The beaches are only about 15 minutes away, and all face into the Gulf of Mexico. Desoto beach is actually part of a huge national park known as Fort Desoto Park which includes camping grounds, hiking and biking trails, beaches, picnic grounds, a long pier and an actual fort. The fort was built in 1849, and union troops were stationed there during the Civil War to aid in the union blockade of Tampa Bay. We headed to the beach first - long white sandy beaches and very blue water. I wasn't really up for a swim though - slightly deterred by the warning of string-rays in the water, so we sunbaked instead.

After enough sun, we headed back to the car... and what turned out to be a bit of wildlife encounter. Firstly, a squirrel... a squirrel at the beach!! How strange... especially as I had only just fed them with Lisa recently in the much colder climate of London.

I also spotted a raccoon trying to get into the garbage bin in the picnic ground.

We then drove down to the Fort Desoto Gulf Pier.

On such a nice sunny day, there were plenty of people fishing off the pier. From the pier you get a fantastic view out into the gulf, and back to towards St. Petersburg. Then, our final wildlife encounter for the day - wild dolphins! It was hard to get a good shot of them, but there was a family swimming along together.

Classic American Moment #3: We drove home via the coastline up to Pasadena and back inland again. Along the way we drove past many fast food chains, however, one sign caught my eye. This particular place was advertising "over 80 flavours of hotdog" - I didn't even know there were 80 flavours of hotdog! We certainly got a laugh out of that.

Classic American Moment #4: We also stopped at the giant supermarket on the way home - this one is much bigger than the store right near our building. It's so big, in fact, that they actually offer you motorised carts to do your shopping so you don't have to push a trolley up and down the aisles!

We are heading to Orlando tomorrow, so having a quiet night in tonight.